UK soul-pop sensation Sam Smith can write one hell of a love song—it just might sting a little.

Sam Smith's first full-length album, In the Lonely Hour, may have gone number one and yielded two chart-topping singles—"Money on My Mind" and "Stay With Me"—in his native UK before an equally impressive debut stateside this June (at press time, "Stay" had just broken the Billboard Hot 100's top 10). But to hear him tell it, he's "still that guy cleaning toilets in a bar who didn't know how life was going to turn out." Somehow, though, Smith appears genuine in his self-deprecation. Probably because the memory is fresh: It's been barely more than a year since he was, in fact, scrubbing porcelain at a pub.

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"It just shows you how quickly life can change," says the soft-spoken singer-songwriter, whose career kicked off when he started upstaging his collaborators with his mammoth range on dance-pop tracks by Disclosure ("Latch") and Naughty Boy ("La La La"). Smith's emotive vocals— pogoing across the spectrum, tragic baritones to free-floating falsettos— then made waves via his 2013 EP, Nirvana, and are now flawlessly exhibited on Hour (a confession about a man he loved who didn't love him back), which Smith will begin touring next month in the U.S.

Raised in the posh Primrose Hill area of London on a steady diet of Britney Spears, TLC, and soul music, Smith was an average student who found refuge crooning with the prestigious Youth Music Theatre UK. He modeled his style after rafter rattlers like Whitney Houston—"It becomes part of your DNA to be able to sing that high"—and that vocal vulnerability, along with a lyrical window into his bleeding heart, has endeared Smith to a swelling fan base while also, he hopes, helping to combat a lack of male sensitivity in the world. "I think we need a little bit of imperfection," he says. "I have nothing to hide." (Arresting album cuts "Lay Me Down" and "Leave Your Lover" confirm as much.)

Such an open-book approach to his craft finds Smith earning frequent comparisons to another UK belter. "It's a massive compliment," he says of being dubbed "the male Adele." "If people are connecting to my music half as much as they connect to hers, then I'm truly very, very happy." Even so, the 22-year-old, who's never been in a serious relationship, admits to having much to learn in the ways of love—but don't expect that to stop him from expounding on the topic. "Just because kids haven't been in love or broken up with four different partners doesn't mean they're not experienced in that world." He pauses for emphasis. "Because, you know what? I have been in a relationship: with myself. And it's been lonely."